Venom is so costly to produce that the moment it becomes obsolete, natural selection rapidly does away with it. If the dragon has venom, you can be sure that it uses it. A full venom gland packs at least eight times this amount. Fry calculated that a typical adult dragon would need only 4mg of venom proteins to send a 40kg deer into toxic shock from collapsing blood pressure. They cause internal haemorrhaging from leaky blood vessels, prevent blood from clotting and cause muscle contractions and paralysis. Many of these poisons are familiar and they greatly exacerbate the blood loss caused by the dragon's bite. The venom itself consists of over 600 toxins, a chemical arsenal that rivals those of many snakes. Other venomous lizards, like the Gila monster, channel venom down grooves that run the length of their teeth but the Komodo dragon doesn't have these - it just drips venom straight into the wounds that it inflicts. Each consists of six compartments, with ducts leading from each one to openings between the teeth. They are the most structurally complex venom glands of any reptile. In all cases, prey start losing blood, but those bitten by the Komodo dragon suffer from another weapon - venom.įry used a medical MRI scanner to analyse the preserved head of a dead Komodo dragon and found that it has two long venom glands, running down the length of its jaw. For their size, they have relatively weak bites but they made up for it with strong neck muscles and very sharp teeth. Other studies using finite element analysis have found that other famous predators, like sabre-toothed cats and great white sharks, do similar things. Their skulls take the brunt and their sharp, serrated teeth open considerable wounds in their prey. Biologists watching these animals have noted that when they bite, they often yank their heads back with powerful neck muscles. However, Fry found that its skull is highly resistant to pulling forces, and that's the key to its method of attack. The dragon's skull wasn't much better at coping with twisting or shaking movements either - this is not an animal that can bite and hold onto a prey animal for long. If a dragon bit with that much strength, its skull would fracture. Of the two, the dragon had a much weaker bite, exerting just 39N of force with its jaws compared to the 252N chomp of the croc. Engineers use the method to crash-test cars Fry used it to compare the dragon's skull to that of another giant reptile - the saltwater crocodile. Also known as Megalania, V.prisca was three times the size of the Komodo dragon, making it (to our knowledge) the largest venomous animal to have ever lived.įry used a CT scanner to create a three-dimensional model of a Komodo dragon's skull and he assessed its properties with a technique called finite element analysis. He even managed to analyse a sample of venom, which is loaded with toxins that prevent blood from clotting and induce shock.Īnd as the icing on the cake, Fry concluded that Varanus prisca, a extinct close relative of the Komodo dragon probably also had venom glands. By placing the head of a terminally ill dragon in an MRI scanner, he managed to isolate the venom glands, which turn out to be more structurally complex than those of any other snake or lizard. The wounds provide a large open area for the dragon to inject its venom and Fry unquestionably showed that the dragons poison their prey. This is a hunter built to inflict massive wounds through a "grip and rip" style that involves biting lightly but tearing ferociously. The discovery made Fry suspect that Komodo dragons also poison their prey and he has just confirmed that in a whirlwind of a paper, which details the dragon's "sophisticated combined-arsenal killing apparatus".īy putting a virtual dragon skull through a digital crash-test, Fry showed that its bite is relatively weak for a predator of its size - instead it's adapted to resist strong pulling forces. But that theory was contested in 2005 when Bryan Fry from the University of Melbourne discovered that a close relative, the lace monitor, has venom glands in its mouth.
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